Gatwick Airport: Area MPs respond to Airports Commission report

Members of the Gatwick Coordination Group, made up of Gatwick area MPs, have welcomed the Airports Commission’s endorsement of Heathrow as the location for the UK’s new runway.

A statement from group chairman and Reigate MP Crispin Blunt, said: “The Airports Commission has made a clear decision in the national interest.

“The Commission was faced with a choice between a strong business case for Heathrow and an economically weak and practically inadequate case for Gatwick: a choice between around £100 billion greater national economic benefit and four times more new jobs spread across the UK flowing from Heathrow versus Gatwick which lacks resilient surface transport infrastructure and any available local labour force to staff the airport.

“Unsurprising, the Commission has found in favour of Heathrow, as a strongly unanimously preferred option as the significantly better option for Britain. The report clearly shows that Heathrow can expand whilst meeting the key economic, infrastructure and environmental tests.

“We now call upon the Prime Minister to swiftly accept the Commission’s recommendation, to end any further uncertainty, and to get on providing the airport capacity Britain needs to compete for trade and investment and to remain an important aviation hub in the twenty-first century.

“We also call on him to ensure that the Government’s consideration is free of individual constituency interests of senior Ministers and solely and transparently in the national interest.”